Brief Exercise Helps Control Diabetes

Diabetics who sit at a desk all day may be better able to control their disease by getting up every half hour for a few minutes of light exercise, an Australian study suggests.

Researchers put 24 overweight and obese inactive adults with diabetes through a series of tests. They wanted to see how different activity levels would affect blood test results that can show when the body isn't doing a good job of converting food into energy.

When these people interrupted prolonged sitting with three minutes of walking or resistance exercises like squats or leg raises, they had lower levels of sugar, the hormone insulin and the protein c-peptide in the blood - all of which can be elevated when diabetes isn't well controlled.

"Humans are designed to move," said lead study author Paddy Dempsey, a researcher at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia.

"Our biological systems function optimally when we are regularly moving and physically active," Dempsey added by email. "The prolonged periods of sitting that now characterize much of our day to day lives - especially our working lives - are missed opportunities for healthy movement."

Globally, about one in 10 adults has diabetes, according to the World Health Organization. Most have type 2 diabetes, which is associated with obesity and aging and occurs when the body can't make or process enough of the hormone insulin.